“Rally for Relief” pickleball tournament raises funds for flood recovery in Damascus

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Va. (WJHL) — The Virginian Golf and Country Club hosted a “Rally for Relief” pickleball tournament on Monday to raise funds for flood relief in the Town of Damascus.

Damascus was one of the hardest-hit areas in Southwest Virginia after Hurricane Helene dumped historic amounts of rain on the region, causing severe widespread flooding.

Director of Tennis and Pickleball at The Virginian David Poole said that Kim Nicewonder approached him about organizing a charity event to benefit Damascus’ flood relief efforts.

“I know here at The Virginian, we’re thankful to able to offer this to to the community,” he said. “We’ve had 83 participants today helping raise money, like I said, for Damascus relief. So it’s really good.”

Poole said participants from around the region came to the club Monday to play pickleball for the cause.

“We’ve had all levels take part–players from all over Southwest Virginia, Northeast Tennessee. And so it’s been a lot of fun just to see, again, see the community come together, you know, see the friendships. I think pickleball is the perfect vehicle to help bring the community together and raise money for things like this.”

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